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I want a give a shout out to Elmer, the head bar tender, at Craft Social. This has been our favorite bar and Elmer has gone above and beyond. Eden Bat has been serving the Belle Glos Pinot Noir for $20. Craft Social does not have this wine on their menu,. When I asked Elmer about it, he went to Eden and got a bottle. He said it was a 10 dollar up charge. I told him it was on the Eden menu for $20 which is covered under the premium menu. Elmer went back to Eden and took a picture of the Eden menu in case his supervisor questioned it. Elmer is wonderful!

This morning t was about 54 degrees F. My husband said he saw three people swimming laps in the outdoor pool. The Solarium is very busy and its hard to find a place to sit. My husband and I have passes to the Thermal Suite. Yesterday we went in the morning and it was very busy. Today we went around lunch time and it was not crowded and very relaxing. We waited to buy our Thermal Suite passes until we boarded the ship. Our last two cruises we have found they will give a substantial discount on embarkation day when they give you a tour of the spa. We saved about $100 on each pass this year. Last year we got the pass for about 50% of the price that had been showing online. Outdoor Pool this morning

Yesterday it was windy and rainy. You really notice how many people are on the ship when everyone stays indoors. There was a big soccer game yesterday so they decided to open the theatre and show the game in there along with other places like Craft Social. The 7:30 show was moved to 2:00 to allow for this venue to be used. My sister and I tried to see the 2:00 show; however, every seat was taken. People were even trying to sit on the stairs of the theatre. We went back later to the 9:30 show. It was Take 3 Trio. They were three ladies who played the piano, violin, and cello. Lots of energy and talent. Last night the sun came out long enough for us to get a picture of sunset which was around 11:00 p.m.

Cobh - Deck of Cards Houses Service for dinner has gotten better as the cruise continues. We had Anytime Dining and the first night we ate in Tuscan. It seemed to be a new crew trying to work together and service was not good. The second night we went to Cosmopolitan and had a wonderful serving team. We were able to change our dining to the fixed Early Dining so we could keep this table. Dinner pictures for Day 3: Smoked Ham and Split Pea Soup French Onion Soup Shrimp Cocktail Salmon Pappardelle Con Fungi Beef Sirloin En Croute

We enjoyed our tour of the Midleton Distillery. Quite a few people chose this tour. We had three buses. The tour started with an overview of Cork. We arrived at Midleton Distillery around 11:00. Our tour of the distillery started at 12:20 so we had time to shop, have a drink, or grab a bite in the cafe. There was mist as we walked through the grounds of the distillery. Our guide called it "wet air". The walking tour took about an hour. After learning about the history of the distillery and the process used to make the product, we were given three types of whiskey to try and compare. The tour ended with a complimentary drink make with one of the whiskeys. We returned to Cobh and met my sister and brother-in-law at a pub. There is a Titanic Museum in Cobh; however, the first available ticket was for 5:30 which was too late for us. Midleton Distillery - Copper Pot

Today we are in Cobh, Ireland. It is 59 degrees Fahrenheit. It was raining when we arrived but has stopped for the moment. My sister and brother-in-law are going to the Blarney Castle. I’ve been there before so we are going to Cork to tour Jameson Distillery. Hoping to have some time to explore Cobh when we return.

Several of the bars have other options than the items listed on the menu. Same thing with MDR. There are no Cabernets listed on MDR menu that are 20 or under. However, when I asked the sommelier if he had one that was covered by the premium package, he brought out Decoy.

Breakfast at the Pig-in-the-Wall Hotel Replica of 14th Century Ships Near Our Hotel

Sea City Museum Memorial to Titanic Engineers

Pictures from Southampton St. Michael's Church Solent Sky Museum

We went to the Craft Social bar. Excellent service. Elmer is the bar tender. He is great at remembering names and preferences for drinks. My husband drinks bourbon and they have a decent selection at this bar. There are some not covered by the premium package but he has been satisfied with the ones that are covered. Elmer will make the smoked old fashioned drinks. This has also been the best bar for red wine. They do have a Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon that is not on the menu. It is covered under the premium package. The Celebrity Elegance is no longer covered on the package. This bar also has two ports that are covered on the premium package. We had the classic package with our booking. We kept our eye on prices and were able to upgrade for $6.99 a day about six months before the cruise.

We were able to drop off our carry- on luggage in our room and pick up our sea passes. We completed our muster drill and the used some of our OBC to have lunch at Le Grand Bistro. We try to avoid crowds in the buffet on embarkation day. Lunch was good. Service was great.

Obviously I am not doing a good job of keeping up with this “live report” I will post pictures from Southampton and the ship later. We had a short taxi ride from our hotel to the port. Boarding was very organized. Port employees directed us where to sit . They filled each row of seats instead of letting people to choose where to sit. Suite passengers had an area to the side. Suite passengers were taken aboard first and then the went row by row to board the rest of the passengers. They had several boarding ramps. It seemed more organized and efficient than some of our boardings in south Florida.

We are planning to do a food tasting tour in Reykjavik. We also have boos the Diamond Circle tour in Akureyei.

We met up with three couples tonight from our roll call group.. One of the couples made the arrangements at the HarBar at the Harbour Hotel. It was rooftop bar. Everyone was very nice. We plan to meet up at Eden on the second day.

My husband and I had planned to stay at This hotel back in 2020 but never made it here due to the pandemic. We booked it for this vacation as soon as we booked our cruise. My sister waited too long and it was booked up.

We explored Southampton while waiting for our room to be ready. We walked the old city walls and toured the Tudor House and Gardens. We ate lunch at the Dancing Man Brewery. We ordered beer flights and appetizers. The server let us try the different beers before choosing the ones for our flights. It was a nice way to cool down after our walk around the old part of the city. We met a group of people who were sailing on the Norwegian Dawn around the British Isles. They ship was leaving on Wednesday. They were very nice people and were from the same state as my sister. We had dinner at the White Star Tavern. After dinner, we walked around again and then enjoyed wine on the patio at our hotel. Lunch at the Dancing Man Brewery.

We arrived in London about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. We used Blackberry Cars to transport us to Southampton. We were very pleased with the service and would definitely use them again. Y husband and I are staying the Pig-in-the Wall, and my sister and her husband are staying at the White Star Tavern. We were dropped off first. We were not able to check-in until later in the day, but the hotel let us store our luggage. The Pig-in-the-Wall is a small hotel with 12 rooms close to the port. This hotel is built into the old city walls. View from the hotel patio - Carnival cruise ship leaving the port Tuesday afternoon.

Everything went well with our flight on Monday evening. We had TSA Pre-check which made it easy to get checked in at the Orlando airport. We found a wine bar where we could relax until the flight. My husband and I each ordered a wine flight. The server brought me the wrong flight and told us to keep it. That gave us 9 wines to taste instead of two. Great way to begin our trip! Our flight was on time and soon we were on our way to London. It was very warm on the plane so blankets, jackets, etc. were not needed.

We are spending two nights in Southampton so our flight leaves this evening. So excited! It’s been a long year, and we are really looking forward to this trip. We are flying out of Orlando to LHR on Virgin Atlantic Airlines which we have not flown before. Airfare prices were very expensive, and we do not have frequent flyer points built up. We decided to book through Flights by Celebrity in the Economy section. This gave us Economy Classic which allows one checked bag, one carry-on bag, and a personal bag per person. I chose aisle seats next to each other so we would not have to climb over anyone to get out of our seats and would have a little more room. I did bid on an upgrade to Economy Delight which gives more leg room, seats recline slightly more, and priority boarding. A couple of weeks ago the flight looked full so I assumed we would not get an upgrade. Last night, I received an email that we won our bid and would be moved to Economy Delight. Hopefully this will be a more comfortable flight than last year when I was stuck in the middle seat of a flight from Chicago to Rome.

Forecast is showing mid 70’s for the day we sail. We are bringing a couple of shorts. Hopefully we will be able to wear them.

For a little background on us, we are in our 50’s-60’s. My husband and I live in Florida, and my sister and her husband live in Illinois. Cruises have been a great way for us to spend some quality time together. This will be our sixth cruise on Celebrity. Four of our cruises have been during the week of Thanksgiving. We have sailed on the Connie, Infinity, and Reflection. Last year we were on the Celebrity Edge for a week from Rome to Barcelona. It was a great cruise but very port intensive and very warm. Reflection has been our favorite ship. The Sunset Bar on the Reflection was a favorite spot for us to meet up each day for drinks. We were disappointed by the Sunset Bar on the Edge as there was no sun covering, and it was not comfortable to sit out there. Based on pictures I have seen of the Apex, it looks like they have added a canvas covering to the Sunset Bar. Eden was one of our favorite areas to sit and relax before or after dinner on the Edge. We look forward to checking out this area on the Apex.

We usually have a balcony room, but we haven’t used the balconies much on the last few cruises. We tend to get together with my sister and her husband in one of the bars or common areas. We decided to try a Deluxe Interior Room this time, saving money which could be used for excursions and other things on board.

I remember following your cruise report. Love the pictures and information you always share.

We were supposed to do a Norway cruise in 2020 but that was when all cruising stopped for a while. Hoping to book one in the future. Packing for this cruise has been challenging. Going to go with layers instead of heavy items They still take up more room than packing for a warm climate.